


you'll go blind looking through rose-tinted shades (good thing i've never worn them)

by LoserLife592



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Ben is, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, It's not a major thing tho, Just a quick mention, King Adam is not a good king, Trans Female Character, United States of Auradon (Disney) Is Not Perfect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-25 19:38:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12042846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoserLife592/pseuds/LoserLife592
Summary: The thing is, the Isle could've been worse.But Auradon could be better.





	you'll go blind looking through rose-tinted shades (good thing i've never worn them)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Once Upon A Time [Wrath]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5138069) by [TheHarleyQueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHarleyQueen/pseuds/TheHarleyQueen). 



> Technically from Carlos' perspective.  
> I haven't seen the 2nd movie yet. Or finished the 2nd book. Or started the 3rd book.  
> ALSO I wanted to put the entire series as the link but I wasn't allowed to or whatever. But basically the inspiration for this was a series, not just a single work. I'd recommend reading all of it and not just one part. (Envy, Sloth, and Wrath are my personal favourites).

The thing is, the Isle could’ve been worse.

 

Thinking of the Isle of the Lost and his time living there is thinking of distance. It’s thinking of how, even after they all dared to call each other _friends_ , they still couldn’t really be weak. Be vulnerable. Because it just wasn’t _right_.

_(But they were supposed to be villains. They were supposed to do things that were wrong)._

Thinking of the Isle is thinking of recycling. It’s thinking of how they took garbage, trash and table scraps and made it into something else. Something new and different and, sometimes, better.

 _(Carlos had cobbled together uneven wires and broken parts and_ broke the barrier _.)_

Thinking of the Isle is thinking of his mother’s voice, high-pitched and deafening. It’s thinking of stale bread and sour milk and how sometimes he didn’t eat at all. Not because he hated it— _it was all he’d known_ —, but because sometimes he couldn’t grab it in time for it to be his.

 

But Auradon definitely could be better.

 

It’s in the little things. The way the boy’s room is all dark wood and deep blues. Videos games and wide beds angled away from each other. The way the girl’s room is all soft pinks and delicate frills. Large closets and small beds angled towards each other.

_(The girls room had come with two sewing machines. They didn’t even know Evie liked to sew. They didn’t know Mal didn’t know how to)._

The little things like how boys are addressed first and, girls are always either in dresses or skirts. Like how people still shy away from the Isle kids or stay away from them altogether. Like how some heroes and their kids still glare and mutter under their breath.

But it’s also the big things like how no one ever sent to Isle proper food or medicine. Like how children would still have try to survive on the Isle if Ben hadn’t decided not to punish them for their parent’s crimes. Like how people were brought back from the dead just to be imprisoned on a tiny island for the rest of eternity.

Big things like how Carlos can’t wear makeup or hold Jay’s hand or kiss him. Like how people ask for Mal’s dead name and try to refer to her as anything other than _she_. Like how Lonnie barely knows how to fight despite being _Mulan’s daughter_. Like how Jane hesitates to learn magic because that would make her different. Like how Doug is so used to rolling over and listening to royalty that he doesn’t even know when, or how to stick up for himself, yet alone someone else.

_(Auradon Prep’s motto is “Goodness doesn’t get any better”. Sometimes he thinks they should change it to “Conformity doesn’t get anymore orderly”)._

Sidekicks all but forgotten, magic users and deities kept under thumb and their magic suppressed. Heroes, princesses, princes, kings, and queens all so caught up in their lives and their happily ever afters that they never look back over their shoulders. Never glance back to see how anyone else is doing. Never look back to see if everyone is as happy as they are.

_(They’re not)._

 

And the thing with living on the Isle is, no one really cares about you. You can get ‘allies’ and join a gang but, no one really cares about you. _(Unless you’re born under an especially unlucky star and get_ friends _)_. No one cares who you meet up with in back alleys or who your eyes linger on. No one cares about gender or sex or an extra bit of eyeliner. The Isle is made up of bitter people and children raised to embody that bitterness.

_(No one ever talks about Governor Ratcliffe and his brood. They’re an especially horrid bunch in the way Maleficent isn’t. A close-minded and Aryan-obsessed lot that avoid contact with most, if not all of the Isle for not being pure white and English)._

_(No one ever listens to Claude Frollo and his hate-filled sermons. His rants of blasphemy and sin and damnation. His preaching and speeches and talks of salvation. As if they weren’t already in hell. As if he wasn’t already in hell with them)._

_(No one ever cares for Gaston’s drunken ramblings of ideal women and the uselessness of books. After all, Maleficent was the most feared and powerful person on the Isle and_ she _would never fall in line with Gaston’s beliefs)._

 

And the thing is, Ben is open-minded and so willing to learn and change. But he was still raised in Auradon. He’s still learning that Auradon needs more work than he even realizes. Still learning that people are more reluctant to change than they seem. Still learning that people set in their old ways simply can not, and will not change. And he’s still so _young_.

 _(Who leaves an entire kingdom to a_ child _? Who, when still able-bodied and in perfect health, sits the world on the shoulders of someone still in_ high school _?)_

 

And the Isle

_(Where children are either raised to be their parents’ legacy or their slaves. Where children survive on rotten food and live in half-built homes. Where children are born only knowing an island prison and the utmost of cruelty. Where villains like Shere Khan and Hades and Ursula live side by side. Where children run **wild** )_

definitely could’ve been worse.

But Auradon

_(Where the food is plentiful and the land is lush with life. Where the castles reach for the sky and glitter with gold. Where the skin is pretty and pale. Where girls are mothers and wives. Where boys are strong and dominant. Where families are nuclear and perfect. Where everyone has a neat little label and box)_

could absolutely be better.


End file.
